@ljohnsaw , I am very sorry I missed your question. I think I may have read it while traveling on my phone and forgot to answer when I got home. I just decided I needed to visit this thread and give an update when I noticed your question. BTW, If I ever fail in the future, don't hesitate to PM and say, "hey deadbeat, answer my question!"

I am going to run out and take some photos. I will take off the cover too, so the sprocket is easily seen. Indeed there is a problem with different sized logs. I did two days of sawing for a fellow this last week, a little over 1700 board feet and I am VERY happy with the debarker, overall. I think I tripped the breaker twice, by having too much tension, when the log got wider on the far end. He had a lot of different sized logs, so I had to slip my chain about 3 or 4 times during the job to accommodate them all. Once I took off the cover to do it once, I left the cover off to speed up the process, about 30 seconds. I also, just sawed in a few circumstances and let the sawmill blade eat bark. A curved log is narrow and wide depending on orientation, so this was a problem too.

If you had a slip pin that quickly adjusted it to differing sized logs as you propose, small, med, large it would work well I think. However, here are a couple other ideas: One, use the smallest sprocket of the three on the bike. This will give more movement for less area and the added benefit of more leverage against the springs, meaning that it will be less likely to trip a breaker as the saw blade will more easily push away from the log without digging into it and overloading the amps on the breaker.

Personally, I think it would be great to just add a 12v geared motor with decent duty cycle ability near the saw end of the debarker horizontal support. This will operate as a "winch" if you will and all is needed is a momentary reversible switch and a relay to get it done. I am going to keep it all as is for now as it works pretty good and I do not like having to drive across town to work at friend's shop, slow to get anything done. Once, my barn/shop is up, I will have my welders, etc.. setup and I will probably grab a smaller sprocket, off junk bicycle I have and exchange sprocket. That will be a quick and easy solution I think. If that fails me, I will pull off the hand mechanism and put on a 25W (1/30 HP) 12V geared motor. I will do some simple math the determine speed of opening/closing. MAY need to add speed control, but I don't think it will be necessary of I do good math.

I really think it should all be controllable from the operator location rather than going around head to adjust a pin.... if you are in a production environment. Especially since it is an easy thing to resolve... in my mind anyways .

I know little about debarkers but I was wondering if some sort of guide or shoe on a bracket just below the blade to control depth of cut would help to prevent over loading the motor. Perhaps a disc a bit smaller than the debarker blade on a bearing?

Thank you and good point Hilltop366. Actually, woodmizer has such a disc spacer that actually mounts right next to the blade to control depth of cut. It is just a really big washer in essence. Thanks for bringing this up. Perhaps, I will spring for one when I order some other items. However, it does not solve the different sized logs, so I almost see it as of no benefit. The depth of cut, seems to be easy to control once you get used to the appendage (debarker) addition. The challenge is when it won't reach the bark (small log) or you need to adjust the chain location to accommodate a large log with the efficiancy benefit of doing right from the operators location. The cadillac way is with a simple momentary reversable switch. Next up and probably a good fit for an LT35 (already is a manual blade guide arm and drive built mechanisms). I do not see tripping breakers as an issue for me at this point. Perhaps an occasional problem when I lose my mind.

12V Geared motor optionI would probably do if I was starting over. Just need to wire it with a momentary reversable switch and a relay. A relay takes a very small amount of power to flip a switch on or off. So, you can use SMALL wire to flip the witch for bigger wire/power.

Thank you and good point Hilltop366. Actually, woodmizer has such a disc spacer that actually mounts right next to the blade to control depth of cut. It is just a really big washer in essence. Thanks for bringing this up. Perhaps, I will spring for one when I order some other items. However, it does not solve the different sized logs, so I almost see it as of no benefit. The depth of cut, seems to be easy to control once you get used to the appendage (debarker) addition. The challenge is when it won't reach the bark (small log) or you need to adjust the chain location to accommodate a large log with the efficiancy benefit of doing right from the operators location. The cadillac way is with a simple momentary reversable switch. Next up and probably a good fit for an LT35 (already is a manual blade guide arm and drive built mechanisms). I do not see tripping breakers as an issue for me at this point. Perhaps an occasional problem when I lose my mind.

Your welcome.

I see now what you are saying about the log size problem.

Would a smaller sprocket increase the range of motion per travel of chain, or does that present other challenges?

Hilltop366, I think the smaller sprocket may do the trick. The bike had 3 sprockets and I used the middle size because I only knew to do distance traveled math and did not account for spring stretch. I am sure there is a limit to how small I can go, but that third sprocket will likely help in both extra swing arm travel and lower the likelihood of tripping a breaker.